An ice cream van (British) or ice cream truck (American) is a commercial vehicle that serves as a mobile retail outlet for ice cream, usually during the summer. Ice cream vans are often seen parked at public events, or near parks, beaches, or other areas where people congregate. Ice cream vans often travel near where children play — outside schools, in residential areas, or in other locations. They usually stop briefly before moving on to the next street.

Most ice cream vans tend to sell both pre-manufactured ice pops in wrappers, and soft serve ice cream from a machine, served in a cone, and often with a chocolate flake (in Britain) or a sugary syrup flavoured with, for example, strawberry. Soft serve ice cream is served topped with sprinkles for a slight extra charge. While franchises or chains are rare within the ice cream truck community (most trucks are independently owned/run), some do exist.

Early ice cream vans carried simple ice cream, during a time when most families did not own a freezer. As freezers became more commonplace, ice cream vans moved towards selling novelty ice cream items, such as bars and popsicles.[2] Early vans used relatively primitive techniques: their refrigeration was ensured by large blocks of dry ice so the engine was always turned off when the van was stopped for sales. The chimes were operated by a hand driven crank or a take-off from the engine, so they were not heard as often. Modern chimes are always electrically operated and amplified.

In Hong Kong, ice cream vans operated by Mobile Softee serve soft ice creams and popcicles. As in the United Kingdom, the vans play The Blue Danube to attract customers. As the Hong Kong government no longer issues new mobile hawker licenses, the company is restricted to just 14 vans in all of Hong Kong. There is usually one ice cream van parked outside the Star Ferry terminal on Hong Kong island, and on Haiphong Road in Tsim Sha Tsui. Some organised crime syndicates used them for laundering the proceeds of crime and as a front for drug dealing.

The original Mr.Whippy company commenced operations in Sydney Australia in October 1962. The vans were an instant hit with the Australian public and soon appeared in most capital cities and larger towns. Approximately 200 U.K. built Commer Karrier vans were imported to Australia in the early 1960s. Precious few of these much loved original vans have survived today.

The Staff family of Hervey Bay Queensland have been continuously operating ice cream vans since 1965. Bob Staff commenced working for the original Mr Whippy company in 1965 as a driver and later as a supervisor. The family provided historical information, stories and photos for British author Steve Tillyer's book The Mr. Whippy Story published in 2003. The family are dedicated to preserving these vintage Mr. Whippy vans and continue operate a small fleet of 1960's Commer Karrier Whippy vans. The immaculately presented vans feature their original Italian Carpigiani ice cream machinery.[3]

The Friend family of Adelaide, South Australia were the first to own and operate ice creams vans on the streets of Adelaide.[4]

Ice cream vans (colloquially known as "Mr Whippy vans") are very popular near beaches, parks and at major events in cities and towns. Most of the population buys the ice creams with standard cone or waffle cone.[citation needed] There are a number of businesses that build custom ice cream vans, such as Majors Group, Mobile Van Builders (NZ) and other business in Australia and New Zealand.

The first Mr. Whippy business was adopted in New Zealand in 1964. This was when the Mr. Whippy brand began taking shape and worked towards creating a household name in the nation. At this time, the Mr. Whippy brand was well established in the U.K. and Australia and met rapid success and expansion in New Zealand.

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the brand name and business flourished. As the lifestyles of Kiwis changed, Mr. Whippy continued to remain a national icon, representing the popular outdoor lifestyle and family values. The soft serve ice-cream sold in vans was popular among all Kiwis. It was much later that Mr. Whippy also started its fixed sites in New Zealand. It started these sites at malls and shopping centres to test the response of the community.

Both the mobile services as well as the fixed site services have been a great success. Today, there are around 36 Mr. Whippy franchisees operating 58 trucks and trading from Northland to Southland. The mobile services franchise has also planned for a country wide rollout for fixed sites.[citation needed]

Previously, Mr. Whippy was part of NZ Milk Products, which merged into Fonterra in 2001. Prior to this Taylor Freeze owned Mr. Whippy and was also responsible for the 1989 reorganization of the franchising system. Over the past 7 years the business has undergone a major refurbishment into a modern franchise system under current owners Flying Kiwi Holdings 2006 Ltd. Mr Whippy has grown dramatically, and its brand and products ensure it remains a much loved icon in New Zealand.

Home Ice Cream is another famous Australian brand of ice cream. The company is well known for its distribution system having over 100 franchises from Darwin to Melbourne, selling ice cream by the box, unlike other ice-cream vans in Australia.

Ice cream trucks first appeared in Toronto in the mid-1960s. They are a popular fixture and local Torontonian tradition. Most are independently owned and operated. In 2014 there are still numerous trucks operated by the same Toronto vendors of the 60s and 70s -outside City Hall, the Eaton Center, Hospital Row (University Avenue), Convention Center, Lakefront, Royal Ontario Museum, the Beaches and at Mirvish Village at Honest Ed's. The majority of truck operators are of Greek descent. There are presently over 100 ice cream trucks on the road in the Greater Toronto Area delivering on side streets or in stationed positions.

Products featured in the ice cream trucks include traditional soft-serve treats (cones, sundaes, floats, shakes, parfaits, blizzards, cartwheels, banana splits) that are submerged with colourful coatings and toppings; slush-puppies; and novelty frozen treats that are shipped from the U.S. and part of the American ice cream truck culture. Ice cream distributors make ice cream fresh daily with premium quality cream, unlike cheap versions found in chain stores. While food trucks have gained some popularity in recent years, given the television series "Food Truck Wars" on the Food Network, their heyday has long fizzled. They were far more popular in the 1970s and 1980s when many street festival started popping up with little variety. It is common to see vendors at various sporting events, marches, street festivals, in parks and just about anywhere there is a crowd.

Ice cream trucks have changed appearance over the years. Most are Gruman 16' painted white with hand-painted art. In the late 1970s, the artwork first appeared on the truck owned and operated outside Honest Ed's. Today that artwork is a part of the tradition and seen on all trucks. Some recent trucks have been custom fabricated with unique, quirky designs such as the Whirly's Ice Cream Trucks.

Rather than vans or motorcycles, ice cream sellers use an adapted bicycle to travel around the land with their product. Using a trumpet rather than a music player, they attract attention and mark their presence. In beaches some go on foot with a special portable box to carry them.

In the Nordic countries, the light blue Hjem-IS trucks provide door-to-door sales of bulk, pre-packed ice cream. The company is well known for its distribution system, selling ice cream by the box, unlike ice-cream vans elsewhere in the world.

There are mainly two types of ice cream vans in the United Kingdom: a hard van, which sells scoop ice cream and is only equipped with a freezer and a soft van, which has a freezer and also a soft serve "whippy" machine for serving ice cream cones and Screwballs. They are usually converted from factory standard vans with the rear cut away and replaced with a fibre glass body (to reduce the weight). Because of the British climate, running an ice cream van profitably is not only very difficult outside summer, but is also an unpredictable business. A summer heatwave can provoke a massive upturn in fortunes for a few days, but after the weather has returned to a milder character sales drop off dramatically. The need to take advantage of rare and short-lived opportunities can result in fierce rivalry between ice cream vans in coterminous areas, with the main disputes being over who is entitled to sell ice cream in a particular 'patch'. This has also led to some ice cream van vendors diversifying and selling other products such as crisps, chips, burgers or hot dogs from their vehicles at other times of the year.

In a number of Local Authority areas, particularly in London Boroughs with existing street markets, street trading regulations prohibit ice cream vans from remaining in one static location. The legislation also contains powers to ban ice-cream vans from specific streets. Proposals in the current London Local Authorities Bill would allow only 15 minutes trading per vehicle per street each day.[5] There also exists a nationwide code of practice[6] for the use of chimes, which limits the volume to 80 dB and the duration to four seconds, but these are rarely observed nor enforced. Chimes must not be played more often than every three minutes, near hospitals, schools and churches when they are in use.

The UK ice cream van industry has historically been a cash only industry; however, in keeping with public retail trends, Markes Ices in Kent claim it was the first to introduce Chip and PIN to all their ice cream vans.

Apart from ice cream, ice cream trucks may also sell snow cones, Italian ice or water ice, snacks, sodas, and candy. Many trucks carry a sign, in the shape of a stop sign, that warns other drivers of children crossing the street to buy food or ice cream. They also play music to attract consumers to their trucks. With the advent of social media networking, many ice cream truck operators are redefining the traditional business model. Not satisfied with the traditional approach of cruising for customers, some operators such as gourmet ice cream sandwich maker Coolhaus[8] are developing followings on social media sites and "announcing" the location of their trucks.

Professionally built ice cream trucks that sell prepackaged foods (Novelty Trucks) use commercial cold plate freezers that plug in overnight and when unplugged maintain their temperature for at least 12 hours. Music systems are mechanical, such as pianos, or more commonly digital devices that have no tape or other moving parts. Each "music box" may be able to play one or multiple tunes.[9] The opening on the side that drivers serve from is commonly referred to as a serving window and usually has a serving counter. Awnings can be attached to trucks over the serving window. Safety equipment usually comes in the form of an electric or vacuum swing out sign that may resemble a stop sign or a triangular shape, as well as vinyl lettering or decals that advise others to use caution.

A soft ice cream truck sells soft serve ice cream instead of pre-packaged novelties alone. These trucks are not seen as often in the United States presumably because of the extra costs associated with building such a truck. These trucks vary in their construction and how they power the machines on board. Power sources include an onboard generator, an inverter system or power can be supplied from the vehicle's engine.